Lee,
RICHARD HENRY, statesman; born in Stratford, Westmoreland
county, Virginia., Jan. 20, 1732; was educated in England, and
returned to America at the age of nineteen. In 1756 he was appointed
justice of the peace, and entered the Virginia
House of Burgesses in
1757, where he was distinguished as a debater and a clear political
writer. Mr. Lee supported
Patrick Henry's resolutions, and was among the foremost men in
Virginia in forming and putting in motion
the machinery against royal oppression and parliamentary rule. He
was a delegate to the
first Congress
(1774), was a member of all the leading committees, and wrote the
memorial of Congress to the people of British America. In 1775 he
wrote the second address of Congress to the people of Great Britain;
and from his seat in that body, in June, 1776, he offered the famous
resolution which declared the
English-American colonies
to be "free and independent States." It is said that his speech on
that occasion was a brilliant display of eloquence. Leaving Congress
in June, 1777, he was again in that body in 1778-80, 1784-85, and
1786-87. In 1784 he was chosen president of Congress, but retired at
the end of the year. Mr. Lee was opposed to the national
Constitution, because it superseded State supremacy, but he was a
supporter of Washington's administration, and was United States
Senator from Virginia from 1789 to 1792. He died in Chantilly, Virginia,
June 19, 1794.

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